Turn 1:1 supervisor meetings into structured working relationships.
Supervisor Meeting Brief Generator is a structured workspace for the recurring 1:1 meetings between you and your research supervisor. Draft a seven-section brief before each meeting; capture eight things after. Action items, themes, and decisions to revisit surface above the next brief — so meeting six builds on meeting one instead of starting from scratch.
Your briefs, captures, and meeting history stay in your browser. No AI reads them; nothing is uploaded.
The first ten minutes of every supervisor meeting are spent rebuilding context
You walk in with a head full of work; your supervisor walks in remembering last meeting’s headline and not much else. You spend ten minutes catching them up, ten minutes on real questions, ten minutes on whatever they happen to notice, and leave with vague decisions that dissolve into ambiguity by the next meeting.
- Hope-based agendas. If the structure of the meeting lives only in your head, the meeting’s quality depends on your supervisor’s mood that day.
- Decisions without revisit dates. “Let’s see how it goes” becomes “why did we decide this?” three months later.
- Action items vanish into email. By month six you’re re-discussing the same three things and don’t notice the pattern.
A practice from management, applied to research
How it works
Prepare the brief
Seven structured sections, drafted in the 15–20 minutes before each meeting. A live speaking-time meter keeps the status update inside the 60–90s target. Auto-saves every keystroke.
Capture after the meeting
Eight sections record what was decided, who owns what by when, and what the supervisor said worth keeping. Decisions and questions auto-seed from the brief so you don’t re-type the questions.
Memory that compounds
Open action items, recurring themes, and revisit-due decisions surface above the next meeting’s brief. Full-text search across every brief and capture you’ve ever written.
What’s inside
Seven-section pre-meeting brief
Status, wins, reading, questions, decisions, blockers, milestones — each with prompts. Decisions are scaffolded with options considered and your current leaning, so you ask for judgment, not validation.
Live speaking-time meter
130 wpm academic speaking rate. The meter shows where you are against the 60–90 second status-update target as you type, so you arrive sharp instead of rambling.
Eight-section capture
Decisions made, questions answered, action items, references suggested, recognition received, feedback, disagreements accepted, themes noticed. Questions and decisions auto-seed from the brief.
Memory that compounds
“From last meeting” surfaces open action items, recurring themes, and decisions flagged for revisit at the top of every new brief. Patterns become visible by meeting 4 or 5.
Multi-supervisor tracks
Primary supervisor, co-supervisors, committee, external advisors — each with their own meeting history, style, frequency, and length. The cross-track dashboard shows everything in one place.
Reminder before each meeting
Optional Chrome notification 1 to 168 hours before each scheduled meeting — you choose. Click it to jump straight to the brief.
Privacy & Trust
- Your meeting content never leaves your machine. Briefs, captures, supervisor names, action items, and themes all live in IndexedDB and
chrome.storage.localon your device. - No AI runtime, no telemetry, no analytics, no account. The extension does not read any web page and runs no inference on your content.
- One optional network call, only if you ask for it. If you enter an email and click Subscribe for product updates, only that email address is sent to GradSummit’s sign-up service — never any brief or capture content.
- Private notes stay private. The “Private notes” fields on every brief and capture are excluded from PDF, email, and Markdown exports by default.
It is a workspace for structured meeting preparation and capture — not an AI coach, and not a generic notes app. Read the full privacy policy.
Built by Dr. Rafiq Muhammad, PhD — author of the Mastering Research book series.
Pricing
Every feature, for everyone — no subscription, no tiers, no account.
All seven brief sections, all eight capture sections, multi-supervisor tracks, cross-meeting memory, reminders, and exports (printable PDF, mailto:, Markdown, full JSON backup) are unlocked for everyone.
Email is entirely optional and opt-in — leave it blank forever, or add it to hear about occasional updates.
Frequently asked questions
Does an AI write the brief for me?
No — and deliberately so. There is no AI runtime anywhere in this tool. It does not generate status bullets, suggest decisions, infer themes, or summarise captures. The structured prompts are the methodological asset; you do the substantive preparation and capture.
Will it remind me before each meeting?
Yes — optionally. If you turn reminders on, Chrome shows a notification any number of hours before each meeting (1 to 168, default 24). Clicking the notification opens the side panel directly to the brief. Reminders are generated locally based on your scheduled meetings; the content is never sent to a server.
Is my meeting content uploaded anywhere?
No. Every brief, capture, action item, theme, and supervisor profile stays in IndexedDB and chrome.storage.local on your device. The only thing the extension can send to GradSummit is your email address — and only if you explicitly opt in to product updates and click Subscribe. No meeting content is ever transmitted. See the full privacy policy.
How much does it cost?
It’s free, with no subscription and no paid tiers. Every feature is available to everyone. There’s nothing to buy and no account to create.
Can I track more than one supervisor?
Yes. You can add as many supervisor tracks as you need — primary supervisor, co-supervisors, committee members, external advisors — each with their own meeting history, style, frequency, and length. The dashboard shows everything in one place.
What does “From last meeting” actually show?
It surfaces three things at the top of the next brief: open action items from the previous capture, recurring themes from the last few meetings with that supervisor, and any decisions you flagged with a revisit date that is due or near-due. By meeting 4 or 5 the patterns start to compound visibly.
Can I get my data out?
Yes. You can export any brief as a printable HTML page (Ctrl/Cmd+P to save as PDF), a Markdown summary, or a pre-filled email. You can export any capture as Markdown. And you can download a full JSON backup of every meeting, brief, capture, action item, and theme at any time — and re-import it on another device.
What if I find a bug?
Email support@gradsummit.com — replies go to a real human (the developer).